A Hard Lesson in Life
by missmissy46
Summary: When Bradin starts failing history, he is assigned a tutor named Michaela. As they start to spend time together, they find out that they both have painful pasts. But Bradin finds out that there are worse things than both of your parents dying, a lot worse
1. Chapter 1

Hey everyone! This is one of my first stories so I would love to hear some feedback, good or bad. Thanks!

Disclaimer: I do not own Summerland or any of the characters except for Michaela Smith.

* * *

The Greyhound bus was practically deserted as a young girl of 16 ascended the stairs onto the bus. She found a place to sit in the 10th row, threw her duffle bag, which had her name Michaela Smith embroidered on it, on the rack above the chairs, and then took her seat next to the window. Once Michaela sat down, she took a moment to take in her surroundings. There was an old man sitting near the front of the big bus, a couple sitting towards the middle, and a middle aged woman sitting in the very back, all of them sleeping. Michaela glanced down at the screen of her cell phone which told her it was 2:30 A.M. on Tuesday, August 29th, 2008. She hadn't realized it was so late, probably because she had so much on her mind. She turned to look out the window, but only saw her own reflection staring back at her due to the glare of the lights inside the bus. Michaela examined her reflection for a moment; Shoulder length, auburn colored hair, layered to frame her soft, pale, tired, face, on which she wore a very sad expression. She stared back into her own emerald green eyes and was able to see her own pain and hurt inside them. 

_Ok Michaela, you can do this. You know you have no choice but to leave because if you don't he might _--- but her thought was cut off by the driver's voice on the P.A. system.

"Welcome passengers to the one way bus from Portland, Oregon to Playa Linda, California. Before we get going, there are just a few things we need to go over. First off, we will be stopping every four hours to get food, go to the bathroom, and stretch our legs. We will stop for exactly 25 minutes and then we will board the bus again and continue on. Please make sure that you are back on the bus when those 25 minutes are up. It is not our fault if you get left behind. Second, we do allow food and drink on the bus but we ask that you please be careful and keep your area clean. And last, when exiting the bus at our destination, please make sure that you have all your possessions and that your area is clean. Thank you for choosing Greyhound bus company and we hope that your ride is comfortable."

At the end of the driver's welcome speech, he turned the key and the engine roared to life. Michaela continued to stare out the window as she sunk lower in her seat and set her head against the window. Memories of her life in Portland rushed through her head as the bus slowly started to move and the bus station was starting to go past her. Silent tears built up in her eyes and spilled out onto her cheeks as reality finally hit her. Portland was her whole life, it was all she had ever known. Everything that she had ever loved, she was leaving behind.

Wait, on the contrary, there was nothing there for her to love, at least, not anymore. The only 2 things she ever truly loved don't exist anymore and one of those two things, she can only despise now. It's been like that for 3 years now and it took her until a week earlier to figure it out.

_There's nothing left for you here, only pain. You know this is what you have to do._, Michaela thought to herself for about the millionth time that night. With that thought in mind, she closed her eyes and let the hum of the engine lull her to sleep.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**ONE MONTH LATER**

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DDDDIIIIIIINNNNNNGGGGG!!!!!

At the sound of the final school bell, Bradin Westerly jolted awake, knocking all of his books on the floor of his 7th period history class. Everyone turned to look at him as they were packing their stuff up or walking out of the classroom. He turned to look at his teacher and found that he was not happy with him. Knowing what was going to happen, Bradin groaned in frustration and bent over to collect his books, waiting for his teacher to come over and lecture him. As soon as all of the kids were out of the room, except for one girl who was still at her desk, his teacher approached him.

"Bradin, you've fallen asleep in class everyday for the past two weeks and, as a result, you're failing this class. And we're still in the first month of school!" He said sternly.

"Sorry Mr. Stevens, it won't happen again." Bradin replied, flipping his shaggy blond hair out of his eyes in an attempt to look at the teacher.

"You've said that to me every day now, and it's still not happening. So, if you'd rather sleep then learn in class, then I guess you're just going to have to learn outside of class."

At this, Bradin stopped putting his books in his back pack and looked up at Mr. Stevens. "What are you talking about?" He asked worriedly.

"I'm talking about assigning you a tutor."

"But, Mr. Stevens-"

"It's no use arguing Bradin. I already talked with your Aunt Ava and it's all set. Michaela here," Mr. Stevens said, gesturing to the girl still in the room, who stood up when he said her name, "is your new tutor. She will work with you every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday after school until your grades show significant improvement. Where you two work together is yours to figure out and coordinate." Bradin groaned if frustration, plopping down in his desk in defeat. Mr. Stevens leaned in closer to Bradin and said in a quieter tone, "It's your senior year Bradin. Make it count." With that, Mr. Stevens walked back to his desk and grabbed his brief case. "I'll leave you two to get acquainted." And then he was out the door.

Bradin looked over at Michaela, who was sitting, staring at her hands in her lap but would glance up at him every few seconds. He sighed and stood up, swinging his back pack over one shoulder. As he turned to walk out of the classroom, Michaela abruptly stood up and said, "Wait!" Bradin stopped and turned to look at her. She had her hand out, ready to shake hands with him. "I'm Michaela."

Bradin, not wanting to be too terribly rude, walked over to her and clasped her hand in his. "Bradin." He introduced himself and then they released hands. They stood there for a minute, all the while Bradin was thinking about how much he did not want to be tutored.

"Look, even though it is Friday, I realize that you just found out about this tutoring thing," Michaela began, "And I'm sure it's something you don't really wanna do, so let's start on Monday after school. That way you have the weekend to yell at your Aunt about how she's being so unfair, deal?"

Bradin gave a little smile. "Ok. Deal. So, where are going to do this? We can't do it at my house because there's already so many people living there, we'd never get any work done. What about your house?"

"…..My house?… Um…. Well….," Michaela was having a hard time coming up with a non-suspicious explanation as to why Bradin couldn't come over to her house, "My parents work all day and they don't get home till 6:00 in the evening and they don't like me having people over when they're not home." Michaela recovered, trying to sound convincing.

Bradin watched her for a moment and wondered why she seemed like she was hiding something, but then let it go and decided it was nothing. "Ok. Why don't we meet up at the ice cream shop and from there we'll go down to the beach. I know a place where we can study."

"Alright. Sounds good. So, we'll meet at the ice cream shop, say, 4:00 after school?"

"Yeah. See ya then." Bradin turned around and headed for the door. Michaela watched him as he walked across the room and out the door, leaving her standing alone in the classroom.


	2. Chapter 2

I'm SOOOOOO sorry it took me so long to upate! I had a huge case of writers block and practically NO time to write! But, here it is! The second chapter!

Enjoy!

* * *

"That's it Bradin! I don't want to hear another word about this subject come out of your mouth! You are going to be tutored whether you like it or not!" Ava yelled in frustration at her ever persistent nephew.

"But Aunt Ava, this is so un--"

"Un-what? Unfair? It may seem so to you, but do you really want to know what's unfair about this Bradin?" Ava turned around to face him, taking her attention away from the stove where she was making pancakes. It was now Sunday morning and the whole family was sitting at the table, ready to have breakfast. Bradin and Ava had been having this argument off and on since the moment he got home from school on Friday.

"What's unfair, Bradin, is that once again you have put me in the position of punishing you, and every time I come out looking like the bad guy to you! I'm sick and tired of being put in this position just because you're too lazy to put some effort into your school work! That Bradin, is what you call unfair." Ava finished, glaring at Bradin with such intensity that you would think he would just back down. But no, not Bradin. He just glared right back at his aunt, anger seeming to pulse out of him.

"Um, Aunt Ava……" Derik said warily. Bradin and Ava immediately turned to look at the youngest Westerly.

"Yes Derik?" Ava asked, her voice returning to her normal, sweet tone. In response, Derik simply pointed to the stove. At this, Ava sniffed the air and realized that while she was busy arguing with Bradin, she had forgotten all about the pancakes that were on the stove.

"Oh no!" She exclaimed, quickly swiveling back to the stove, where she swiftly took the now blackened pancakes off and put them onto a plate. Ava then walked to the table, set the plate of burned pancakes down, and said half humorously, half seriously, "Breakfast is served."

Nikki stared at the 'breakfast' for a moment before she said, "Um, I think I'll just have some cereal." and got up and walked to the cupboard.

"I second that. Could you grab the Fruit Loops while you're up, Nik?" Johnny said.

"Oh, and the Cocoa Puffs?" Jay added.

"And don't forget the Corn Pops!" Derik chimed in, getting up to grab some bowls and the milk. Nikki grabbed all the cereal requests, along with her own, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and sat back down at the table.

"Aren't you going to have anything Bradin?" She asked. Bradin, who had resumed his glaring contest with Ava, simply replied,

"No thanks. I'm not really hungry." And then he walked off, back to his room, where he slammed his door shut. Ava sighed as she sat down at the table next to Johnny.

"He'll come to terms with it. Just give him time." Johnny reassured, rubbing Ava's shoulder.

"Yeah. You know Bradin. He's stubborn, but at the end of the day, he knows that you only want what's best for him." Jay said in between bites of his Cocoa Puffs.

"I know you guys are right, but it's still hard to be the bad guy all the time." Ava said, pouring herself a bowl of cereal. Bradin reappeared outside his bedroom, dressed and ready to go out.

"Where are you going?" Ava asked.

"Out." Was his simple reply and then he was gone.

"Ugh!" Ava sighed, leaning back in her chair, rubbing her temples in an obvious attempt at relieving some of the stress that had welled up inside of her.

"He'll come around." Johnny said. Ava just sighed again and got up from the table, leaving the rest of the family in silence.

--

Bradin sat on the beach watching the waves slide gently ashore and then retreat, leaving behind bits of seaweed and debris. It was a warm day with a slight breeze, and not a cloud was to be seen up in the clear blue sky. Bradin leaned back on his elbows and closed his eyes, allowing the warmth of the sun to work it's magic at relieving the anger he felt within him. He sighed.

_I know they just want what's best for me….. But still, why do they have to treat me like I'm some hard-core rebel without a cause? I mean, it's not like I went out and did a bunch of drugs and got drunk until I couldn't form any sentences! All I did was let my grades drop a little! …… But, maybe having a tutor won't be quite so bad. I mean, she is kind of cute._

Bradin opened his eyes and examined the beach. People running about, volleyball players and hot girls tanning on the sand, surfers and swimmers in the water. All of this was nothing new to Bradin. And though he loved the beach, he was getting kind of bored with it at the moment. He stood up and shook the sand loose from his shorts and walked up to the food stands. He ordered a hot dog and decided to talk a walk along the boardwalk. After walking for about 5 minutes, he spotted someone who looked familiar. It was that girl who was assigned to be his tutor.

She was on her cell phone, looking down at the sand not watching where she was going, walking at a quick pace, up from the beach and towards the boardwalk. He started walking again and then looked back at her. She was now off her cell phone but on the ground. Some jogger had rudely bumped into her and just kept on going, as if he didn't realize he just knocked somebody to the ground. Bradin swiveled around and walked up to her.

"Hey, Michaela?" Bradin said, offering her his hand, which she gratefully took.

"Thanks." She said and quickly turned around and tried to walk away, but not before Bradin caught a glimpse of her face. Her eyes looked red and puffy, as if she had been crying. He lightly grabbed her elbow before she could walk away. She flinched away from his touch real fast. And as she turned around, trying not to let him see her face, he saw what she didn't want him to see. She was looking down at her arm where Bradin had tried to grab her, with a slight look of physical pain upon her face.

"Are you ok?" He asked. But that's when he noticed something peculiar about the way she was dressed. It was probably close to 90 degrees and she was wearing jeans and a hoodie.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Michaela said, wiping her face with arm of her sleeve and then crossing her arms. She was avoiding his gaze, telling him that she wasn't fine. But he let it go, seeing as how he didn't know her well enough to ask her to explain what made her so upset.

They stood there for a moment before Michaela said, "See you tomorrow after school?"

Bradin just looked at her for a minute before letting a small smile appear on his face. "Yeah, see you tomorrow."

And then she walked off, leaving standing alone once again.


End file.
